Chapter 70 Old Love Letters: "Are we strangers?"
Zhou Yu had anticipated this outcome. Given Chen Jingchi's temperament, if he dared to give it away in the first place, how could he possibly accept her return?
But she was determined to return it to him today.
She mustered her courage, looked up and stared directly into his eyes, and asked, "How much did you spend on this house?"
He didn't speak, but just stared at her intently.
She already knew the answer from his expression.
Zhou Yu was burning up with fever and felt weak all over, her mind was foggy. She didn't want to drag it out for too long and tried to persuade him: "This property is under your name, so even if I have the key, it's useless."
Seeing that he wouldn't take it, she simply tried to stuff it into his pocket.
He didn't know what word she said had hurt him, but Chen Jingchi suddenly grabbed her wrist, his voice barely audible as he said, "You're so calculating, do you want to return the things you gave me?"
The gifts she gave him weren't cheap either—an in-ear monitor and a microphone—which he still uses today, even after they broke up.
But these two are not the same, Zhou Yu replied, "That's not what I meant."
She saw the dissatisfaction in his eyes and remembered what he had said when he handed over the keys and access card years ago.
"Your name can't be on the property certificate yet; it can only be transferred to you after we get married."
“Chen Jingchi, you bought this as your wedding home, but I’m not the one who’s going to marry you. Isn’t it normal to give it back to you?” Zhou Yu lowered her voice and asked, “Or are you 100% confident you can win me over this time?”
She regretted it the moment the words left her mouth; she clearly didn't want to say such harsh things.
Perhaps the fever has clouded my mind as well.
She bit her lip in frustration.
The pressure on his wrist suddenly loosened.
Chen Jingchi was speechless, his eyes filled with an unreadable expression.
Last time, she agreed to be with him to make him happy. What about this time? With what little affection she has left?
He couldn't find any reason.
He wasn't that confident, nor did he expect to mend the rift between them in a short time. He was testing the waters step by step, and eventually discovered that the root of the problem hadn't disappeared with the passage of time.
What she cared about most was what he dared not face.
"Zhou Yu, I was just expressing myself." He explained his second confession at the concert some time ago, "The choice is always in your hands. Whether you agree or not, I will accept it."
He lowered his stance to the lowest level; this time, he was willing to be a slave to love.
Zhou Yu thought that he had compromised.
But the next sentence was unexpected: "If there is a female owner in the house, it can only be you, and it has nothing to do with whether I can win you over."
He took the keychain and put it into her bag. "Just think of it as me selling the house. It's just a useless key that doesn't take up much space."
What an unreasonable statement.
It seems the house hasn't been sold and is still vacant.
Zhou tried to hold his hand down, but her palm touched the back of his hand. Chen Jingchi was burned by her excessively high body temperature and realized something was wrong.
He reached out and removed the mask from her face; her flushed cheeks were clearly not from shyness. Chen Jingchi touched her forehead, his expression grave, and his tone turned somber: "Zhou Yu, you have a fever."
She deliberately avoided his touch, took the mask from him, and explained, "It's just a low-grade fever."
The gesture was clearly an attempt to avoid suspicion. Chen Jingchi paused for a moment, then withdrew his hand: "Do you want to see how red your face is?"
He didn't give her time to react, grabbing her wrist and leading her out of the office. "I'll take you to the hospital."
Zhou wanted to catch up with him, and said urgently, "No need, just go to the infirmary."
The hospital was crowded on weekends, and Zhou Yu didn't want to waste her time getting a checkup. Chen Jingchi turned to look at her: "Where's the infirmary?"
Zhou Yu didn't rush to answer, but looked at his hand: "I can walk."
Chen Jingchi let go, unable to do anything about it: "Aren't we strangers?"
Even a stranger wouldn't react this strongly to just touching your wrist. Zhou Yu didn't dare tell him that he was different from everyone else, both before and now.
She remained silent.
After leaving the teaching building, Chen Jingchi put on a mask. Upon arriving at the infirmary, he found only a female doctor inside. After taking his temperature, she casually remarked, "Thirty-eight degrees. You must have caught a cold from sleeping with the air conditioning on last night."
"Um."
Thinking about the reason, she felt a little depressed.
Zhou Yu sat down in the chair and felt a little uncomfortable when he saw that Zhou Yu had also sat down next to him. He lowered his voice and said, "I'm fine here by myself."
The IV drip was estimated to take more than an hour, and she didn't want to take up his time.
Chen Jingchi looked at her dismissively: "Why do you care what strangers do?"
"..."
She shut up.
The doctor came over with the medicine bottle. Knowing she was a new teacher at the school, he glanced at the man beside her and asked with a smile, "Boyfriend?"
Before she could deny it, the person next to her answered for her: "Ex-boyfriend."
Zhou Yu felt a lump in his throat, unable to catch his breath.
The doctor, who wasn't much older than her, joked, "You're still so concerned about him even though he's your ex-boyfriend."
"There's no way around it," Chen Jingchi said frankly, "First love is just too hard to forget."
Zhou Yu couldn't listen to a single word, so she simply turned on her phone and pretended to be busy. Fortunately, the doctor only asked a couple of questions and then left. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chen Jingchi get up, and she glanced at him as he walked to the air conditioner and adjusted the fan direction, turning it up two degrees.
He went to the water dispenser again, filled a disposable paper cup with warm water, and returned. He opened the medicine box prescribed by the doctor and held the pills to her lips: "Open your mouth."
Zhou Yu didn't let him feed her; she reached out and took the fever reducer. Chen Jingchi sat back down next to her, his phone rang, and he picked it up to reply to a message.
Du Heng: [You weren't recognized at Zhou Yu's school, were you?]
Du Heng: [Those students all know you.]
Chen Jingchi: [Not currently]
At least the school has a security office, so suspicious people can't get in. Walking outside makes it easier for them to be photographed.
Du Heng: [Come back early today, I need to catch a flight tomorrow.]
Chen Jingchi: [I know]
The two words had just been sent when the door to the infirmary was pushed open, and the sound of girls talking could be heard outside.
Zhou Yuzheng thought the voice sounded familiar, and when he looked up, he saw two female students from his class walk in. Their eyes met, and the girls noticed the IV tube, exclaiming in surprise, "Egeria, are you sick?"
Chen Jingchi turned his gaze to the newcomer.
"It's alright, it's not too serious." Zhou Yu smiled at them.
Just as the girls were about to look at the person next to her, the doctor called them over in time. After getting their medicine, the two hurried away, waving goodbye to Zhou Yu as they left.
After the door closed, Chen Jingchi asked, "What did they call you?"
Not long ago, Liang Shuchen had called her that in front of him, and Chen Jingchi felt a strange sense of familiarity with the name.
"English name," Zhou asked.
How to write it?
Zhou Yu didn't even look up: "It's no use knowing."
As soon as she finished speaking, a WeChat message popped up on her phone screen. He had spelled out several English words and asked her which one was correct.
Zhou wanted to let the message box pop up and then disappear.
In the first English class of the first year of junior high school, the teacher asked everyone to think of an English name. Zhou Yu had read some Roman mythology stories at the time, so he named himself after one of the fairies.
In Roman mythology, Egeria is a nymph who appears in people's dreams. In reality, it is an asteroid discovered in 1850, known in Chinese as Egeria.
After that English class, she changed the nickname of all her social media accounts to Egeria. She used this name for many years until she went to college and sent her first email to Chen Jingchi, at which point she changed it.
When she arrived abroad and was asked her English name by others, she hesitated for a moment before saying her old name, which she has used ever since.
Seeing her staring blankly at her phone, Chen Jingchi reminded her, "Let me ask my brother."
Zhou Yu finally turned his head to look at him, his voice very soft: "What kind of younger brother are you?"
He chuckled softly and finally explained the truth to her: "Zhan Li's nephew."
She thought to herself that the boys got along quite well.
Zhou Yu didn't let him actually ask Liang Shuchen, but instead sent him the correct English name. She paid special attention to his reaction; Chen Jingchi only glanced at it before leaving the chat, seemingly not taking it seriously.
She was secretly relieved; it seemed he really had no recollection of the name.
Chen Jingchi sat with her for an hour. By the time the IV drip ended, it was noon. Zhou Yu had only eaten a small bread roll that morning and was starving. As soon as the doctor removed the needle, she was about to pay when she was told, "Your ex-boyfriend already paid."
I looked up and saw Chen Jingchi returning from behind the counter.
Zhou didn't want to owe him anything, so he asked the doctor how much it would cost and then transferred the money to him, but Chen Jingchi returned it, saying, "Treat me to lunch."
Having no other option, she asked, "Do you eat at the staff cafeteria?"
He didn't object: "Okay."
After lunch, Chen Jingchi insisted on taking her back, saying that he had given her an umbrella but she didn't take it with her.
Zhou was speechless. He had left his umbrella at the entrance, but he hadn't remembered it this morning because he was in such a hurry. He had gotten used to it over time and had never thought of taking it.
She knew she was in the wrong, so she had no choice but to get in the car. What should have been a five-minute walk took him only two or three minutes by car, and he hadn't even finished playing a single song.
His car looked new, suggesting it hadn't been driven much. The playlist on the car stereo was a series of sentimental English songs, none of which she had heard before. Zhou Yu didn't have much time to observe; the car had already stopped downstairs at her apartment building.
Before unlocking the car, he asked, "What are we doing this afternoon?"
Although she had received an IV drip, Zhou Yu felt that her fever hadn't subsided and she still felt a little unwell. She replied, "Go to sleep."
Chen Jingchi nodded, said "Get some rest," and watched her get out of the car and walk into the apartment building.
After arriving home, Zhou took her medication as instructed by the doctor and then took a nap. She originally intended to sleep for two hours, but the medication had side effects, and she slept so soundly that the alarm clock didn't wake her.
As the sun set, a ringtone pulled her from her dream. She reached for her phone and vaguely saw that it was a voice call from Chen Jingchi.
After the call connected, he asked, "Which floor do you live on? I'll bring you dinner."
Since she was sick at home alone, she probably wouldn't cook for herself. Fearing that she might not eat clean food if she ordered takeout, Chen Jingchi specially went back and asked the housekeeper to cook the meal and deliver it to her.
Zhou Yuren was still not fully awake, and murmured with his eyes closed, "Fifth floor."
"Open the door, I'll be right up."
The phone, which was placed to his ear, remained silent for a long time before Zhou Yu slowly woke up. There was a faint knocking sound at the door.
It took her several seconds to groggily sit up in bed, slowly walk out of the room, and move to the entrance to open the door.
Chen Jingchi noticed her hair was still messy and asked, "Did you just wake up?"
"Hmm." Zhou Yu stared at him blankly, slow to react. "What?"
She hadn't heard a word he said on the phone. Chen Jingchi stood at the door, not intending to go in, and handed over the thermos: "Auntie made this, it's rather bland."
Zhou Yu's gaze shifted down to the thermos in his hand, then returned to his face, and she didn't reach out for a moment.
Chen Jingchi understood what she was thinking and said helplessly, "Just consider it wishful thinking on my part."
These words made her mind even more confused. She didn't mean to embarrass him, but she was at a loss for words and didn't know how to respond. She could only silently reach out and take the thermos.
Zhou Yu had only been awake for a short time and was still weak. When he picked up the food bucket, he lost his grip on his phone and it fell to the floor.
Just as she was about to bend down, Chen Jingchi squatted down first. Because of the height, the phone case fell off when it fell, and Chen Jingchi saw a palm-sized Polaroid photo fall to the ground after it.
Zhou Yu saw the photo clearly, his whole body stiffened, and he was now completely awake.
She saw Chen Jingchi pick up the photo, even flipping it over to reveal his signature.
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Author's note: Thank you all for the landmines and nutrient solutions!
Yvonne :) threw a landmine
Reader "Yvonne :)" irrigated with nutrient solution +20
Reader "Orange Jam" watered the plant with nutrient solution +7
Reader "Lily" watered with nutrient solution +5
Reader "慕寒星语" watered the plant with nutrient solution +5
Reader "keyee" added 5 units of nutrient solution to the water.
Readers who are "stranded" will receive +1 nutrient solution.
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